Know your Nautical Terminology
can
A type of navigational buoy, often a vertical drum, but otherwise always square in silhouette, colored red in IALA region A (Europe, Africa, Greenland, and most of Asia and Oceania) or green in IALA region B (the Americas, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines). In channel marking its use is opposite that of a nun buoy.
nun
A type of navigational buoy, often cone-shaped, but if not, always triangular in silhouette, colored green in IALA region A or red in IALA region B (the Americas, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines). In channel marking its use is opposite that of a "can buoy".
One of the mnemonics on pilotage I learned from my Grandfather was: "Even red nuns have odd black cans." This means that red fixed markers & nun buoys have even numbers, while black fixed markers & can buoys have odd numbers. Black fixed markers have green lights. Black buoys when I was growing up have given way to green buoys.
The International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities, previously known as International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA), is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1957 to collect and provide nautical expertise and advice. IALA is also known by its French name of Association Internationale de Signalisation Maritime.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
